Field
The present disclosure relates to optical communication equipment and, more specifically but not exclusively, to a hybrid optical switch for software-defined networking.
Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Optical communications networks are widely used for providing various communication services to clients. To address the need for higher transmission capacities, some optical communications networks are configured to use wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), wherein a plurality of modulated carrier wavelengths are concurrently transmitted in an optical fiber. Exploiting the undivided wavelength granularity of WDM, a reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) may be used to enable the corresponding optical communications network to add and/or drop selected carrier wavelengths at a network node while allowing other carrier wavelengths to traverse the network node in an optically transparent manner.
In an optical communications network having a generic mesh topology, traffic volume through some network nodes, e.g., through the hub nodes, may fluctuate significantly over time. For example, during some time periods, traffic-volume bursts through a hub node may approach or even exceed the node's maximum throughput capacity. During some other time periods, the traffic volume may fall to a relatively low level, e.g., lower than about 50% of the node's maximum throughput capacity. Disadvantageously, such traffic-volume fluctuations may lead to suboptimal utilization of the network resources.